


The Conspiracy Board

by Taitiami (TheWakingWorld)



Category: Rigel Black Chronicles
Genre: Gen, Illustrated, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, Spoilers for The Futile Facade, after triwizard tournament, fic of a fic, recursive fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28236111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWakingWorld/pseuds/Taitiami
Summary: After the shocking events of the Triwizard Tournament, a group of students convene and attempt to figure out the mystery that is Rigel Black... via tawdry newspaper articles.
Comments: 43
Kudos: 124
Collections: Rigel Black Chronicles Appreciation, Rigel Black News Report, Rigel Black Universe





	1. It's a Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This is a recursive fic of murkybluematter's Rigel Black Chronicles. Please be warned that there are SPOILERS for The Futile Facade Chapter 13 within.
> 
> If you are a fellow Discordian of "harry get some sleep", I hope you enjoy this short mishmash of everyone's ideas.

For this first time in months, the Room of Requirement is not filled with training dummies and dueling mats. In fact, there is only a single training dummy in the DA’s meeting place (though it’s hardly recognizable as one anymore). However, on this day, the Room has been revamped entirely to accommodate the needs of its occupants.

Now, a half-circle of comfortable couches face the Conspiracy Board. There is no doubt as to what it is. Even if the pinned-up newspaper clippings, hastily scribbled notes, and red string didn’t give it away, someone had charmed the words “RIGEL BLACK CONSPIRACY BOARD” to scroll across the top like a muggle news report. The “S” in conspiracy is a conjured snake that hisses at every new rotation, startling numerous members of the DA as they enter the room.

Only a few days have passed since the Conspiracy Board was erected, but almost every member of their club has contributed something to the board. The sole exception instead spends his time hexing the remaining dummy into oblivion, needing to rely on his friends to share the accumulated information with him.

“I am quite fond of this one,” Aldon Rosier announces, tapping on one of the newspaper clippings.

> _IMPOSTER BLACK: SON OF FRENCH HOUSE ELF?_
> 
> _The boy who impersonated Arcturus Rigel Black is widely believed to be French due to his reported fluency in the language, but this reporter suspects there is more to the story than that. In an exclusive interview, one of Imposter Black’s own classmates claimed that the secret halfblood was taught French by a house elf. While we know well that Imposter Black is a liar of unprecedented skill, could there be a nugget of truth here? After all, such a scandalous dalliance would surely want to be kept hidden from the public. Our Imposter Black would have spent his days sequestered away […]_

Aldon looks back at the couches with an roguish grin. Sitting silently, Edmund Rookwood simply stares back, unimpressed. Next to him, Pansy Parkinson spares Aldon a single half-hearted smile before resuming her intense staredown with the Conspiracy Board. Aldon pouts.

“That one’s rubbish,” Ron Weasley disagrees, as if there was any doubt. Ron stands with his arms crossed before the Board, his eyes roving its contents with a pensive frown on his face. His gaze flicks between each addition as if he’s trying to find a certain puzzle piece—or perhaps the best move to play in a game of chess.

His eyes track the red string that connects that idiotic article to a note Pansy had put on the Board: “Rigel said a house elf taught him French”. Pansy had insisted on still referring to Rigel as, well, Rigel, despite that not being his real name. Not everyone agreed with this.

From the note, another string leads to an additional article, almost as insipid as the last.

> _FRANCE’S SECRET WEAPON UNLEASHED_
> 
> _"We don’t even know if he’s human!” exclaimed Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. When asked how this could be, considering the impersonator is a professed half-blood, she responded: “Everyone saw what he did in our tournament. Such a freak of nature cannot be classified as human […]_

Ron scowls at it, his crossed arms tightening.

A snort comes from his left, and Ron turns to find Blaise Zabini had snuck up on him while he was lost in thought. Blaise’s hand reaches out to finger another article snippet.

> _THE HALF-BLOOD REVOLUTIONARY_
> 
> _In one fell swoop, a single boy utterly destroyed the Dark’s supposed coup de grâce, shaking wizarding society to its foundations. Some, such as the supporters of the SOW Party, are claiming that this masterful blow was mere coincidence. They want the people to believe that this brave young man’s bold reveal was the result of poor planning or bad luck. They are mistaken. The Dark may try to delude itself into believing these lies, but the people shall not. The events of the Triwizard Tournament were undoubtedly the work of a half-blood revolutionary on the rise […]_

“Somehow, I doubt that he was planning for this,” Blaise says, amusement heavy in his voice. “He’s been doing his best to avoid the limelight since he first arrived at Hogwarts. Granted, he failed miserably, but his intentions are quite clear.”

“Not clear _enough,”_ Millicent Bulstrode mutters, pinning up a new article with a grimace on her face. It’s a segment from the newest installment of The Daily Prophet, fresh from the owl.

> _THE TWO BROTHERS: A FLIGHT OF DEATH AND THE GREAT PRETENDER_
> 
> _"What are you trying to achieve, Voldemort?” a nameless boy asked the man who trapped him. This phrase, among many things, came as a shock to all who watched the Triwizard Tournament. The horrified onlookers wondered how this charitable child known as Arcturus Rigel Black would know the name of this fiend, but those musings would soon be drowned in the revelations that followed. But this reporter has not forgotten his words and what they imply._
> 
> _"Voldemort”, the name of the man who captured the Triwizard Champion, is French for “flight of death”. It is worth noting that this man bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Riddle of the SOW Party. It is also worth noting that our great pretender, who some say is the illegitimate child of Mr. Riddle, is also believed to be French […]_

Millicent stares at the article for a minute, her brow furrowed. Then she says, “He didn’t like Lord Riddle for some reason.”

Blaise sends her a dry look. “That could be because he’s—”

“I know!” Millicent cuts him off, red-faced. “It’s just—it seemed really personal. Too personal for it to just be opposing political views.”

“I sincerely doubt he’s Riddle secret love child.”

“I didn’t say that! It’s just Rig—he _hated_ Riddle. There must be something more there.”

A flash and the training dummy goes flying into the wall, smacking against it loudly before falling pitifully back to the ground.

Everyone in the room turns to look at Draco Malfoy. His wand is still pointed at the dummy, a furious scowl twisting his fine pureblood features.

Quietly, Pansy stands up and moves to his side, gently lowering his outstretched arm. She speaks lowly to him, placating. One by one, everyone resumes what they were doing.

“So,” Millicent says to Blaise. Blaise shrugs.

“How about this one?” Theo speaks up, wandering closer to poke at a newspaper snippet on the bottom. “It says he’s some half-blood prince or something.”

Millicent makes a face at him. “A _prince?_ Of what?”

“Well, this one says he’s actually the long-lost son of the Queen, but there’s another one here somewhere. I think it was about Camelot—”

Millicent throws up her hands and stalks to the doors. “I’m done! I can’t take any more of this today.”

Theo smirks at her back. “Are you sure? There’s also a theory here about time travel—”

_“Done.”_

There’s a beat of silence as the Blaise and Theo watch her leave.

Then Aldon sidles up to Theo and says, “Show me the time travel one, I’m reluctantly curious.”


	2. The Board

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Conspiracy Board in all its glory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I redid this thing like five times, istg.
> 
> Edited on 1/8/21 (January 8th) to include a transcript

  


[A snippet of a newspaper article titled “THE HALFBLOOD REVOLUTIONARY”]

TRANSCRIPT: In one fell swoop, a single boy utterly destroyed the Dark’s supposed coup de grâce, shaking wizarding society to its foundations. Some, such as the supporters of the SOW Party, are claiming that this masterful blow was mere coincidence. They want the people to believe that this brave young man’s bold reveal was the result of poor planning or bad luck. They are mistaken. The Dark may try to delude itself into believing these lies, but the people shall not. The events of the Triwizard Tournament were undoubtedly the work of a half-blood revolutionary on the rise […] 

[Notes on “THE HALFBLOOD REVOLUTIONARY”]

FRED: Whoever wrote this clearly doesn’t know anything about our Puppy

GEORGE: I concur. Anyone who knows our mutt would know that he gracefully stumbles into his every daring feat

FRED: Well-said, my good man

[A red string connects “THE HALFBLOOD REVOLUTIONARY” to this note]

BLAISE: Rigel knows French

[Two notes are on the string connecting “THE HALFBLOOD REVOLUTIONARY” to “Rigel knows French”]

THEO: French people are into revolution, right?

MILLICENT: Theo, NO!

[Another red string connects “Rigel knows French” to a newspaper article snippet titled “FRANCE’S SECRET WEAPON UNLEASHED”]

TRANSCRIPT: ”We don’t even know if he’s human!” exclaimed Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. When asked how this could be, considering the impersonator is a professed half-blood, she responded: “Everyone saw what he did in our tournament. Such a freak of nature cannot be classified as human [...]

[A third red string connects “Rigel knows French” to another note]

PANSY: Rigel said a house elf taught him French

[Notes on “Rigel said a house elf taught him French”]

NEVILLE: But why would he learn French from a house elf?

EDMUND: It could be an intentional red herring

CHO: I would be skeptical of this theory if this was about anyone else, but he would absolutely be that paranoid and cunning

[A red string connects “Rigel said a house elf taught him French” to a snippet of a newspaper article titles “IMPOSTER BLACK: SON OF FRENCH HOUSE ELF?”]

TRANSCRIPT: The boy who impersonated Arcturus Rigel Black is widely believed to be French due to his reported fluency in the language, but this reporter suspects there is more to the story than that. In an exclusive interview, one of Imposter Black’s own classmates claimed that the secret halfblood was taught French by a house elf. While we know well that Imposter Black is a liar of unprecedented skill, could there be a nugget of truth here? After all, such a scandalous dalliance would surely want to be kept hidden from the public. Our Imposter Black would have spent his days sequestered away in a remote safe house […]

[A red string connects “IMPOSTER BLACK: SON OF FRENCH HOUSE ELF?” to another snippet of a newspaper article titled “THE TWO BROTHERS: A FLIGHT OF DEATH AND THE GREAT PRETENDER”]

TRANSCRIPT: “What are you trying to achieve, Voldemort?” a nameless boy asked the man who trapped him. This phrase, among many things, came as a shock to all who watched the Triwizard Tournament. The horrified onlookers wondered how this charitable child known as Arcturus Rigel Black would know the name of this fiend, but those musings would soon be drowned in the revelations that followed. But this reporter has not forgotten his words and what they imply.

“Voldemort”, the name of the man who captured the Triwizard Champion, is French for “flight of death”. It is worth noting that this man bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Riddle of the SOW Party. It is also worth noting that our great pretender, who some say is the illegitimate child of Mr. Riddle, is also believed to be French, creating a clear tie between the two of them.

But that isn’t all, my dear readers. As anyone who watched the first task of the Triwizard Tournament can attest, the pretender is a Parselmouth, an innate ability only passed on through the bloodline that has all but died out in present day. Then how could this unidentified halfblood, a veritable nobody before his deception, possess such a rare gift? It would be only logical to assume that he is in somehow related to the only other known Parselmouth of the generation, Mr. Riddle. [...]

[Three notes are on the string connecting “IMPOSTER BLACK: SON OF FRENCH HOUSE ELF?” to “THE TWO BROTHERS: A FLIGHT OF DEATH AND THE GREAT PRETENDER”]

THEO: Wait, is this one saying Lord Riddle had sex with a house elf?!

FRED: My eyes are bleeding!

GEORGE: You gotta get that checked out, Gred, you’re scaring the kids!

[Notes on “THE TWO BROTHERS: A FLIGHT OF DEATH AND THE GREAT PRETENDER”]

MILLICENT: He does seriously  hate Lord Riddle

PANSY: Rigel is not Riddle’s son

RON: You know something we don’t, Parkinson?

[A snippet of a newspaper article titled “A HALFBLOOD PRINCE AT HOGWARTS”]

TRANSCRIPT: Any wizard could tell you that purebloods, halfbloods, and muggleborns tend to ask [sic] very differently. This is not racism, simply fact. So it seems downright implausible that any halfblood would be able to impersonate a pureblood for years, let alone the unknown scamp most seem to assume Rigel Black’s impersonator is. But there are [sic] one sect of muggle-blooded people that act somewhat similarly to purebloods: royalty. If the fake Black was in fact truly a prince, this would [...]

[Notes on “A HALFBLOOD PRINCE AT HOGWARTS”]

GEORGE: I worry for our poor puppy pauper prince, Forge

FRED: As do I, Gred, as do I

[A snippet of a newspaper article titled “WRACKSPURT EPIDEMIC”]

TRANSCRIPT: It has become clear after the recent events of the Triwizard Tournament that our magical community has been utterly beset by an unprecedented amount of wrackspurts. [For those few who may be unaware, wrackspurts are invisible magical creatures that cause fuzziness of the brain in their victims.] This is evidenced by the Rigel Black incident, which clearly illustrates how Wizarding Britain (and possibly other countries, such as France and the United States) has been under wrackspurt influence in the widespread obliviousness that allowed an obvious imposter to [...]

[Notes on “WRACKSPURT EPIDEMIC”]

CEDRIC: Why is the Quibbler here?

CHO: Luna wanted to contribute

MILLICENT: It’s at about the same quality as the rest, anyway

[A snippet of a magazine article titled “THE ANSWER IS TIME TRAVEL”]

TRANSCRIPT: Okay, now that I’ve got your attention, please permit me to hold it for a little longer.

According to my covert contact within the Unspeakables, who remains unnamed lest they be indicted, the boy posing as Rigel Black was in possession of a Time Turner the previous year. This was ostensibly for academic purposes, but anyone sane would doubt such a claim. To give someone, a _ child  _ no less, the ability to _ bend time itself, _ simply for extracurricular studies? Ludicrous. So why would our imposter request a Time Turner in the first place? And what if this isn’t the first time?

If time travel is involved, it would explain why no one knows who this mysterious imposter is, despite his formidable magic and his combat skills that put even Aurors to shame. There is no doubt that such a person could never remain so utterly unnoticed for so long, but if this person was from the future, then it would only make sense that they were unknown. And this would explain how the imposter simply disappeared: how do you catch someone who can jump through time as they please? 

_ Then why would he borrow a Time Turner?  _ you ask. I believe the imposter “ran out of juice” as it were. If whatever let him jump through time was compromised, he would be forced to [...]

[Notes on “THE ANSWER IS TIME TRAVEL”]

MILLICENT: There is no way he had a Time-Turner last year. He would have avoided all the trouble he got into

BLAISE: Would he have, though?

MILLICENT: ...You have a point

[A red string connects “TIME TRAVEL IS THE ANSWER” to a magazine article titled “RIGEL BLACK: VAMPIRE”]

TRANSCRIPT: The boy who impersonated Rigel Black is a vampire, and anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves. It’s the only logical conclusion. How else would a young teenage boy recognize another vampire as well as beat a seasoned Auror in one-on-one combat? Another Auror, who wished to remain anonymous, confided in me, saying “That kid is definitely a vampire. Gotta be.”

[Three notes are on the string connecting “THE ANSWER IS TIME TRAVEL” to “RIGEL BLACK: VAMPIRE”]

ALDON: A time-traveling vampire is unmistakably the superior option

RON: That’s just bloody stupid

ALDON: Truly? My, how astute you are, Ronald.

[Notes on “RIGEL BLACK: VAMPIRE”]

RON: Why is this here? We know he isn’t a vampire

FRED: Do we, though?

RON: YES

EDMUND: This does provide an explanation for his acquaintanceship with this “Gavril”

ALDON: That’s hardly proof. Rigel has the nasty habit of finding trouble everywhere he goes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he met “Gavril” by obliviously wandering into his coven.

CHO: He isn’t that bad!

ALDON: Yes, he is

EDMUND: Yes, he is

RON: Yes, he is

GEORGE: Yes, he is

FRED: Yes, he is

BLAISE: Yes, he is

MILLICENT: Yes, he is

THEO: Yes, he is

CEDRIC: Yes, he is

NEVILLE: Yes, he is

PANSY: Unfortunately, he very much is

[A red string connects “RIGEL BLACK: VAMPIRE” to this note]

CEDRIC: He’s powerful

[A red string connects “He’s powerful” to this note]

LUNA: Rigel is a girl

[Two notes are on the string connecting “He’s powerful” to “Rigel is a girl”]

THEO:  ~~ Statistically speaking, girls are weaker than boys ~~

THEO: Sorry

PANSY: Good boy. Do be more thoughtful in the future

[Notes on “Rigel is a girl”]

RON: What?! No he isn’t!

CHO: Sorry, Luna, but I have to agree with Ron on this one. He’s definitely male.

EDMUND: Has anyone seen him without clothing?

ALDON: Edmund, for shame! How am I to tell poor Alice that your heart has been stolen away?

THEO: We should ask Draco~

NEVILLE: I don’t think that’s a good idea

BLAISE: It wasn’t


End file.
